Rustic mushroom flatbreads

I love to call my food rustic, because that's what it is at best of times. I don't like fussy presentations, or maybe occasionally, and that's the reason why my meals look like regular home cooking. Today's recipe is one of my rustic creations, it's for chestnut mushroom flatbreads with a crispy spelt crust, emmental and rosemary. Many of my favourite flavours are combined here, and I can't complain about how the result actually was.

This recipe makes two large flatbreads.

Bread dough:

300 g spelt flour

½ tsp salt

½ tbsp dry yeast

200 ml lukewarm water

1 tbsp olive oil

Filling:

6-8 chestnut mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

100 g emmental

2 tsp wild rosemary

Ground black pepper

A drizzle of olive oil

Method:

Make the dough first. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the water and olive oil. Knead to an even dough and let rise under a teatowel in a warm place for about one hour. Add more water or flour, if the dough doesn't have the correct texture (similar to a pizza dough).

Slice the mushrooms and garlic thinly and grate the cheese. Divide the risen dough and roll out two flatbreads thinly.

Heat a frying pan with a metal handle very hot and also pre-heat the grill setting in the oven to maximum.

Throw a flatbread to the hot pan and layer the filling on it. I put the cheese under the mushrooms, but this can be varied per preference.

Keep it on the pan until the bread gets some frying marks underneath.

Then put the pan into the oven under the grill and leave it there until you are happy with the colour on the top. This should only take a few minutes as the oven is very hot.

Repeat the procedure for the second bread and serve them fresh from the oven.

And please always be careful when handling such insanely hot pans etc.! This method makes a nice result, but you need to be cautious while at it.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Potato and spelt flatbreads with walnut pesto and roasted courgette

I made some potato and spelt flatbreads filled with walnut pesto, roasted courgette and salad fixings. It was quite the ultimate bread and it was filling enough to be had as the main meal of the day. Making these requires a little bit of effort as bread baking is involved. However these flatbreads are pretty much the easiest kind of breads that you could be baking. And isn't it so nice to have fresh homemade bread? This huge yellow courgette grew in my garden, and now it was time to get rid of it. It was still surprisingly firm considering its size, it hadn't gone yet quite a marrow.

Potato bread is very nice tasting and can easily be made from left over potato mash. The walnut pesto adds a crisp, sharp taste to it and the roasted courgette and other vegetables are just full of freshness. Here is how I made my breads.

Potato flatbreads

500 g potatoes

1 egg

1 dl spelt flakes

2 dl barley flour

1 tsp salt

This recipe makes 2-3 large flatbreads.

Peel the potatoes and boil them until soft. Then chase them through a potato ricer or just mash them as usual and let cool.

Add a little water to the spelt flakes to moisten them, but pour any excess water off that they aren't absorbing.

Then add the egg to the potatoes and stir. Also add the spelt flakes, barley flour and salt and knead until the dough is even.

Shape large flatbreads of the dough and place them on a baking paper. These should be rolled out quite thinly.

Stab with a fork on the top of the breads and bake them at 200C for about 20-30 minutes until they have received brown marks.

Walnut pesto

50 g walnuts

1 garlic clove

80 g fresh rocket

5 tbsp olive oil

Pulse all ingredients together with a hand mixer and let cool in the fridge. This pesto will be later spread on the flatbreads.

Topping

1 large courgette

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano

3 spring onions

3 tomatoes

Fresh rocket

50 g Sussex Charmer cheese

Roast the courgette slices at 220C for about 20 minutes brushed with olive oil and oregano. Turn them a couple of times during the roasting. They should still be a little bit firm, so don't roast them for too long. At least that's the texture that I like more.

Chop the spring onions and cut the tomatoes into slices. Also cut small pieces or make shavings of the cheese.

Assemble the breads by spreading the pesto on the bread and then layering all the ingredients onto it. You can enjoy them either open or closed.

Your VegHog

Heirloom tomato and pesto barley flat breads

I managed to secure some of these heirloom tomato beauties from the food market, and I'm making barley flat breads with them. The main ingredients for such a dish are there: tomato, mozzarella, pesto and basil – always a winner for me! As the weekend is luckily approaching, maybe you can get some heirloom tomatoes from your local market.

This recipe makes 2 good sized breads.

For the flat bread dough:

50g wheat flour

100g barley flour

1tbsp dry yeast

1tsp salt

100ml lukewarm water

1tbsp olive oil

For the topping:

1 large heirloom tomato

125g mozzarella

2tsp pesto

Fresh basil leaves

Make the dough for the flat breads first by mixing the dry ingredients (wheat flour, barley flour, dry yeast and salt) together. Then add the lukewarm water and olive oil and knead into an even dough. Let it rise in a warm place under a tea towel for about one hour. This dough is very similar to a pizza dough.

In the meanwhile you can slice the heirloom tomato and mozzarella, and prepare the pesto, if you want to make it from scratch.

Once the dough has risen, divide it into two parts and roll each one out thinly to a base. Spread the pesto on the dough and place the tomato and mozzarella slices on them (tomato on the top). Bake at 200C for about 15 minutes.

Put some basil leaves on the top and serve warm. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Smoked pepper hummus with potato flatbreads

I want to write about a nice snack today that I thoroughly enjoy. It can be offered at parties or just enjoyed at home on dark autumn evenings.

I have already published my basic chickpea hummus recipe, but today's recipe is a different hummus with a lovely spicy and smoky flavour. The hummus is similar chickpea based hummus but with added char-grilled sweet red peppers. They add a great flavour and nice colour to this dip.

Today I combined the hummus with Finnish style potato flatbreads. Also about these I have already published an article. They are very easy but tasty breads and even a great way to use your left-over potato mash. There's not much kneading needed and the dough is easy to shape. This time I actually managed to get barley and granary flour, so getting closer to the authentic Finnish ones.

The hummus

150g sweet baby red peppers

Vegetable oil for char-grilling the peppers

150g dried chickpeas

2 garlic cloves

1 lemon's juice

1tsp cumin powder

4tbsp water

5tbsp olive oil

1tsp paprika

1tsp salt

The only downside of this is that if you use dried chickpeas, you'll have to remember to put them to soak on the previous evening or early in the morning if you make this in the evening. I like working with the dried ones and I also have truck loads of them, so it's good to make a lot of hummus.

So, soak the dried chickpeas first and then cook them. First heavily boil them for a couple of minutes and then let them boil slower for about one hour until they are soft. Stir occasionally.

In the meanwhile char-grill the peppers in a grill pan. I used small baby peppers, so they could just be cut in half before the grilling. If you use larger ones you can chop them a little bit smaller. First heat some vegetable oil and then grill and turn the peppers until they have black charring marks and are cooked softly.

After the chickpeas are cooked soft let them cool. Chop the garlic and squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl with the garlic and peppers. Add the chickpeas and season with paprika, cumin and salt. Add the olive oil and water and puree into an even paste. Taste again and add more seasoning or more fluid if needed.

The potato flatbreads

You can make these breads while the chickpeas are boiling. Then they should both be nice and fresh to be enjoyed together.

500g potatoes or potato mash

3dl barley flour

1 egg

1tsp salt

Peel the potatoes and boil them until soft. Then chase them through a potato ricer or just mash them as usual. You can of course skip these steps if you are using a left-over potato mash. Add the egg to the potatoes and stir. Then add the flour and salt and knead for a while until the dough is even.

Roll the dough out thinly and use a cookie cutter to cut out small flatbreads. Place them on a greased baking tray or baking paper. If you so will you can also make a larger bread. Typically this is a very easy dough to shape as the potatoes are good binding agents. Obviously it pays off using tasty waxy potatoes.

Bake the breads at 180-200C for about 20 minutes until they have received some brown spots.

And there you have today's snack dish. Enjoy!

Your VegHog